Chapter Twenty-Two
"Your name is Bao, correct?" Ludmilla asked, pulling her hair back with one hand and braiding it perfectly, tying it and looping a small kerambit into the end. Bao nodded nervously. Somehow, this woman reminded him of Roberta, the killer maid. The air about her was just as terrifying, and the two men that walked in after her seemed just as dangerous.
"Look, if you're going to shoot up the place, just get the fuck outta here!
"I've had way too many of those in here, even compared to other establishments in Roanapur."
"Well, what do you expect in a city of thieves, murderers, conmen and dishonorable discharges."
"So what do you want?" Bao demanded, sounding braver than he felt.
"Well… As you say, Lagoon Company and we are going to be attending your establishment tonight, and we need at least one impartial witness if you will.
"A person to confirm that we are truly dead. We may not die. We're not making it easy for them, but there will be a shootout here, and some or all of us are probably going to die. Here's the money to repair your shithole bar. I trust 500,000 dollars will cover it?" Ludmilla asked, putting a briefcase with hundred dollar bills on the counter. Bao's eyes widened. That would cover his bar and pay for some great upgrades to it. He nodded, not mentioning that his bar was barely insured for a fifth of that.
But he understood what was going on. He was being bribed. It was a hefty bribe, clearly by someone who had a huge stake in this farce.
"Listen, you may just want to skip town or fake your death some other way. If anyone can kill Revy from Lagoon Company, I ain't met them yet. That bitch has the Devil's luck on her side.
"She's faced down killer maids, Yakuza assassins, chainsaw wielding maniacs and terrorist groups and come out on top every time. You won't come out with all your limbs intact if you fight her."
"Let's agree to disagree on that one, Bao. Will you accept our recompense or not? We trust that also buys your silence?" Ludmilla asked. Bao nodded.
"Good… We'll see you tonight. You may want to clear out the bar. I don't particularly care if your customers die, but it can't look good on your bar's reputation."
"For 100,000 extra, I can have the bar reserved for you this evening." Bao said cunningly. Ludmilla's eyes narrowed and she threw another briefcase at him. He opened it and found more hundred dollar bills inside.
"Where are you getting all this money? Even the top agencies in Roanapur don't have this kinda loot!"
"You needn't concern yourself with our methods." Ludmilla said, removing her sunglasses to reveal razor sharp cobalt blue eyes. She looked like she could be a member of the CIA or some secret intelligence agency, but she spoke with a strange accent that Bao couldn't quite place.
"Whereabouts are you from, lady?"
"Let's say somewhere in Europe. My actual country of origin is irrelevant. Needless to say, I'm not a national of that country." She said. "Thank you for your cooperation. Lagoon will come to call at about 7 and we will be arriving at about 7:30 tonight. Have your bar cleared out by 6:30. I trust that 100,000 dollars will buy three hours of time alone in your bar? We will provide suitable protection for you.
"The bar itself looks to be bulletproof?"
"Lined with Tungsten Carbide." Bao said. That was one of the most expensive aspects of his bar.
"Good. Remain behind the bar until the shooting and shouting stops and you'll be safe. We won't bring any armor piercing rounds." Ludmilla said to Bao's shock.
"Who the fuck are you!" He demanded, insistent now that he get a straight answer.
"We are monsters that terrify even the residents of this fearless town." Ludmilla said, turning sharply and leading her allies out
"Alright… Rock… Revy… Dutch… You have enough extra clips for your guns?" Linus asked as they prepared to go out. The three nodded.
"Miss Sawyer, your chainsaw is completely full on battery?" He asked. Frederica nodded.
"Garda, Alric, Astrid, you all have your weapons and are prepared for combat?" The three nodded.
"I have also created some earphones for all of you. Take this, put it in your ear and instructions will enter directly into your brains. They allow one-way telepathic communication. So I can tell all of you what to do, but you cannot answer back. I will trust that you are all able to multitask well enough to listen and fight at the same time." Alric said, handing out an earpiece to all of them. They put them in.
It made sense. Alric was the most analytical of the group, and if anyone could command from behind the scenes, it was him. He was more skilled at combat than any Special Forces soldier, but compared to the monsters present, he was at a disadvantage. He would be safest behind the bar, watching and commanding the forces. He had also made a device that could cause the object it was stuck to to become transparent like glass so that he could see through it and watch the entire battle with ease.
But it was one-way glass. So from the outside, it would look just like the bar.
"Good… Rock… I expect you to primarily act as backup. Your skill is not even peak-human level. Your shooting will primarily be a distraction to the enemy. Allow Garda, Linus, Astrid and I to be the main combatants. Miss Sawyer, Miss Lee, Dutch… You are also backup. Your skills are greater than Rock's. But not up to our standards.
"If I tell you to fall back, you do it. Revy, you just do whatever comes naturally to you. You never listened to Dutch. Why should I expect you to listen to me?" Alric said. Revy sneered.
"Fuck you, asshole!" She growled.
"I will issue directions to you as well, Miss Lee. If you don't listen to them, that is your own problem. I cannot force you to obey me." Alric said.
"What? What about your perfect telepathic connection?"
"It is far from perfect. It only allows me to speak to you, not order you. I am working on a brain microchip that will allow me to control weaker willed individuals. But I suspect it would not work on you, Miss Lee. Please, though… If you wish to survive this fight, they will not be holding back and I cannot afford to have any loose ends. Please obey me if you wish to survive.
"If I must, I will use one of the hibernation bullets on you. It will put you in a coma-like state for approximately three days. I do not wish to waste them on you since they'll be most effective on beings like Ludmilla." Alric said.
"You really do love her, don't you Alric?" Rock asked. Alric shrugged.
"I don't know if I would say I love her. But my feelings for her go beyond simple carnal attraction. If I were to choose any of the 100 females in the Genesis Project with whom to produce offspring, I would have chosen her. Love is still a slightly foreign emotion to me." He said as they walked into the bar. Alric loaded six bullets labelled with an H on each of them. Clearly, those were all Hibernation bullets.
Rock also had three full clips of Hibernation bullets along with six clips of regular bullets, three for each of his guns. Bao greeted them unenthusiastically as they went to the bar and just ordered beer. None of them wanted to be drunk for the upcoming fight. Rock went a step further and only got juice. He knew Bao probably didn't have a lot of juice, but he needed to be as sober as he could. Rock had a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol from his years as a company man.
But that didn't mean that he couldn't become inebriated. As they sat and drank and talked, Dutch kept checking his watch.
"So… These people… What do you know about them?" Bao asked Dutch. Dutch simply shrugged.
"Not much. They were human experiments, created from birth to be superhuman in ability. That's why we have these four with us.
"Bao, meet Alric… Garda… Linus… and Astrid."
"Pleasure, I'm sure… So… Do you have human emotions? Or are you just like flesh and blood robots?" Bao asked, being rather rude, still annoyed that he had to let his bar get shot up.
"My emotions are the closest to being human… After me, there's Garda… Her emotions are still in their infancy if you will. She keeps an excellent handle on them.
"But she has been known to show intense emotions on occasion."
"Well… Intense for me. For anyone else, they would probably be said to border on non-existent." Garda said, her expression almost completely flat.
"But you and she…" Bao said, pointing between Linus and Garda.
"We're as close to a couple as is possible, given my emotional limitations. Back in Genesis, we would likely have been paired together to create second generation superhumans." Garda said.
"Genesis? Like Adam and Eve?" Bao asked. Linus shrugged.
"Not exactly. In their infinite modesty, our former bosses named the M and F series' after books in the Bible, as if we were an entirely new chapter of humanity." The man said.
Bao nodded, checking his watch. It was almost time.
"Between you and me, I hope you succeed. Are you planning to kill these people?" The bartender asked.
"Well…" Linus began.
"Yes and no. For all intents and purposes, they'll be dead… A doctor will declare them dead and they'll be buried." Garda said. Bao nodded, not sure if he wanted to know any more than that.
If someone was being buried alive on his watch, he was just as happy not knowing the full story. Happy not having to think about living humans screaming and kicking to get out of their coffins and slowly, agonizingly suffocating. As this thought crossed his mind, Ludmilla and her allies walked in. Ludmilla pulled out her swords.
"Ah… We had heard you would be here this evening… Linus… Alric… Astrid… Garda… Have you made peace with yourselves?" The woman asked. They nodded, standing up and pulling out their own weapons. Bao ducked behind the bar, trusting the Tungsten Carbide to do its job and protect him. Alric leapt behind the bar as well.
"Do not mind me, Mr. Bao… My job is not to fight, but to command. I'm leading the troops if you will." Alric said. The four superhumans separated to different parts of the bar, Linus pulling out his gun and firing at Ludmilla first, bouncing it off the bar, and sinking it into her leg. Unfortunately a shot like that wouldn't knock her out. When the bullet was far enough from the heart, its effects would be minimized. But it would slow her slightly.
This was both a result of the bullet in her knee and the fact that the poison was coursing through her veins, if only for a little while before it was broken down. Garda grabbed her dual Trench Spikes that she had coated with the poison and attacked Ludmilla, locking blades with her, their bodies a flash as they exchanged rapid fire blows. Garda made a slight cut on Ludmilla's left arm with her blade.
"Well done… Your melee combat has improved." Ludmilla said politely.
"Thank you. So has yours, especially considering that bullet in your knee." Garda replied, ducking under Ludmilla's sword strike and hitting the cobalt eyed superhuman directly in the chest with her spikes and twisting, using the blood to turn the poison liquid again and releasing it directly into her blood. Ludmilla staggered slightly.
"Well… Learning to ignore pain is important, too." Ludmilla said, continuing to fight until she was hit directly in the back by a bullet from Linus. Ludmilla staggered further, continuing to fight, but finding that her ability to fight was hindered now. After a few more minutes, she collapsed.
Frederica blocked several bullets from Matthias and Zane while defending Rock, who was firing regular shots at the two of them, trying to cripple rather than kill, primarily aiming for the legs and hopefully the knee. The two superhumans were too fast, though. He managed to graze them a few times. Revy was going crazy across the room, dodging bullets and returning shots. Revy's skill was impressive, considering she sank a shot into Zane's right ankle, staggering him.
Even with his limp though and the blood that was freely coming from his wound, he was still quite agile, dodging bullets with incredible grace. Bao seemed extremely tense, considering his bar was being destroyed once more. The only difference was that he had already been reimbursed for the damage. Even if the whole thing was completely obliterated, he could easily repair it with 600,000 dollars.
Dutch occasionally came out from behind the wall and fired a shot from his large caliber revolver. He never hit, but he was mainly aiming to distract, and didn't come out except when Alric ordered him to. As he stepped out one time, he felt a strange sensation of heat and prickling and suddenly, strange lights flashed in his right eye and he couldn't see out of it. He looked down and saw that his body was bleeding all over with shrapnel wounds. A table had exploded after something had been thrown at it.
Dutch could admire a well-planned and organized attack plan, and Alric had pretty much thought this up on the fly, constantly having to readjust his plan to accommodate their opponents' actions. He was also impressed that Revy was listening, reacting when she was told and staying down when she was told. He hadn't expected to be so badly injured, but he went into this knowing that he could very well die and prepared for almost any circumstance.
It seemed like Zane was especially having fun against Revy, and if there was anyone that caused Revy to lose control momentarily, it was him. He almost hit Revy several times, despite her constant movement and agility. He even grazed her leg a few times, opening up wounds across her body. She had to step up her game to exceptional levels against him, and she was enjoying this. Finally, she came up behind him, loading a green bullet in and shooting Zane in the back, right where his heart was.
Fortunately, his bones were dense enough to partially protect from the bullet, but he went down pretty quickly after that. Next, Alric readjusted his game plan to outflank and overwhelm Matthias, who was already running low on bullets, and began using his gutknife with the chain and ball at the end of it to keep people at a distance.
Rock… Shoot, now! Frederica, close with Matthias as a distraction. Alric ordered. Rock came out and shot three bullets from his guns while Frederica closed with him, swinging her roaring chainsaw, which he had to block with his guns, causing some damage to them from the vibration and from the sheer weight of the attack. One of Rock's bullets sank in Matthias's foot. The second hit his other thigh.
Linus, finish him. Sink the final bullets and take him down. Revy, back him up. Use your unpredictable style to throw him off.
Revy came out shooting, kicking him in the knee and almost tripping him while Linus came up and shot him right in the chest as his leg buckled under him, hitting him right in the sternum. Again, it didn't sink right into his heart, but just left of it, causing the poison to course through his veins, dropping him.
The final enemy fell unconscious, and Lagoon Company, and even Alric, Garda and Astrid celebrated.
"Could you make sure they're 'dead'?" Alric asked Bao, making sure to use air quotes.
"What are the air quotes for?"
"Don't worry about it." The nearly emotionless tactical genius responded, his face nearly flat.
Bao got up and went out, sighing at the utter destruction around the bar, but checked each of them. He didn't feel a pulse on any of them and seeing how that fight had gone, he wasn't willing to stick around much longer to make sure. If they were going into the ground dead or alive, then whether or not he declared them dead, they would be going into the ground.
"They're dead."
